Hungary investment volume falls 4.7% yr/yr in Q2

Friday, August 28, 2009, 13:57

Investment volume in Hungary dropped 4.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2009, preliminary figures published by the Central Statistics Office (KSH) on Friday show. The drop follows a 7.7% yr/yr decrease in Q1 2009. H1 investment volume fell 6.0% from the same period last year.

Q2 investments rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.4% from Q1 2009 after a 1.1% drop in Q1 from Q4 2008.

Construction-type investments were up 1.1% yr/yr in Q2 and investment in machinery and equipment fell 11.6%. In the first six months, building investment fell 1.6% and machinery investment contracted 10.8% from the same period last year.

The decline of investment in the manufacturing sector accelerated to 17.8% in Q2 from 6.8% in Q1, resulting in a 13.1% H1 fall after a 3.6% decrease in 2008.

Within the overall decline, certain branches registered impressive rise. Boosted by developments related to natural gas extraction, investment in the mining sector rose 40.6pc yr/yr in Q2 after a sharp 66.4% decline in Q1, resulting in a 7.7% fall in H1 following a 47.6% decline in 2008. Power plant and network developments raised investment volume in the energy sector by 26.9% in Q2 and 16.3% in H1.

The real estate sector, which includes the home-building sector, registered investment growth of 10.6% in Q2 and 7.3% growth in H1. Construction, however, invested 41.4% less than in Q2 last year and 24.6% less than the first half of last year. Road and motorway construction pushed transport and storage-sector investments up 14.3% in Q2, though the H1 figure still shows a 1.2% drop.

Investments in public administration and defense rose 20% from a low base in Q2, but fell a slight 0.4% from the first half of last year. Investments in health and education were down 22.7% and 11.4%, respectively in H1 compared to the same period last year.

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